The Rock Island Line
Author: Bill Marvel
An icon of rail history, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Line endured for nearly 130 years, running from Chicago to the Twin Cities to Houston and becoming a legend celebrated in song and railroad lore. This book traces the story of the Rock Island Line through triumph and tragedy, from its brilliant beginnings to its paupers death in the winter of 1980. Casting back to the Rock Island's predecessor lines (which dated as far back as the 1840s) the story proceeds to the railroad's frenzied expansion in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to its downturn during the Great Depression, and its subsequent resurgence. Illustrated throughout with period color and vintage black-and-white photographs, this history also examines the railroad's infrastructure, freight services, a locomotive fleet renowned for its diversity, and its colorful passenger operations, including the famed Rocket trains. The book concludes by tracing the series of events that led to the railroad's liquidation in 1970, including seemingly interminable merger proceedings with the Union Pacific and the labor strife which ultimately broke the railroad.

? Format: Hardbound
? Pages: 160
? Length: 8.25 x 10.625
? ISBN-13: 9780760332504
? ISBN: 0760332509
? Catalog ID: 145394